After 12 years of Republican control in the state, the election of Gov. Josh Shapiro represents a sea change.
By Jon Hurdle, Inside Climate News
On Christmas Day 2022, part of a natural gas processing plant in Washington County, Pennsylvania caught fire, igniting a vapor cloud and prompting a response by the local fire department, a shutdown by the owner, and notification of the incident to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. The fire burned itself out by about 5 p.m.
The DEP said its officials went to the Revolution Cryo plant in Smith Township on Dec. 25 and returned on Jan. 3 as part of an ongoing investigation into what caused the incident at the plant owned by Energy Transfer, a leading natural gas pipeline operator. The agency denied claims by some environmental groups that anyone calling its emergency line to report the incident got only a voicemail, and said that no residents evacuated.
As to the causes of the fire, the agency said it “does not comment on ongoing investigations or speculate on possible enforcement actions.”
To the DEP’s critics, its response to the fire, and the fire itself, are the latest signs that the agency is ineffective in dealing with industry and communicating with the public.
“They could have provided a much more detailed and transparent account about what happened, what the risks were, how people should be protecting themselves,” said Matt Mehalik, executive director of the Breathe Project, a nonprofit that advocates for improved air quality in southwest Pennsylvania. “The DEP did not broadcast that very widely, and there was a much more minimized sharing of information that largely is perceived as keeping those people in the dark during that period of time.”
Since the state’s hydraulic fracturing boom for natural gas began in the mid-2000s, critics say the DEP has been hobbled by staff cuts and a cultural reluctance to crack down on the industry in a state with a long history of fossil fuel extraction. The result has been explosions, spills, leaks, and contaminated private water wells as well as growing evidence that fracking for natural gas harms public health.
But with the inauguration of Josh Shapiro as the new Democratic governor and new leadership at the DEP, advocates for tougher regulation of the oil and gas industry, and for an activist approach to countering climate change, hope that the state is poised to begin a new chapter.
“I’m optimistic that making enforcement and being an advocate for the public will be a top substantive priority for the DEP under Gov. Shapiro, and not just on fracking,” said David Masur, executive director of PennEnvironment, an advocacy group.
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